So u think the most part of the people have a pretty decent wellfare over there? HK in itself is an attractive place to live in. For Chinese people living in the rest of the country. And as long as the "ordinary" China will have their "Kommy" politics and we are buying their stuff, it will not change for a long time. It will only give a small group of people more money and as long as the situation is like it is, it will continue. Look at the large Chinese companys buying companys in the west to get the right knowledge and technic.
Do the math....

Sorry for the politics, on to the topic

Hi, first off, I want to thank Desoto Racing and Serpent America for the opportunity for my son and I to run for them. Looking forward to a great year racing Serpent.

First practice day on the Cobra-Be went well. Initial setup based off the Nitro buggy which we have a couple practice days on already. Car is extremely fast and nimble, exactly what I assumed after driving the nitro buggy.

Track we practiced on is on the smaller side of medium and tight. Traction is ok, some 180* turns, tight chicane, etc.

By the end of the day, buggy was pretty dialed and very easy to drive. Next going to test some setup to get the car a bit more responsive as my son likes his buggy more on the twitchy side. Setup sheet attached is where we ended the day.

I just got an email from upgrade. The skins for the BE car are ready. They are not listed on the site yet so you have to:

-order the skin and leave the body blank
-They also have the serpent logo so leave it blank where you want it
-call them or send Lauren an email to fill in the blanks
[email protected]

I'll post up pics when it arrives.

Well my track closest to my house is finally finished and we had our first race this weekend.

It was a "Small" turnout due to it being the first day. But I did qualify 1st in Buggy and take home 3rd in the A. Still plenty of room to make this car faster

Glad to hear all the great news!!!

I just got mine finally running too... very good buggy indeed!! I have to say this electric 1/8 is pretty cool, don't get me wrong, love my nitro still, but this is almost like a having new gf!!

I thought the speed wasn't too much to handle at all, comparable to maybe my nitro Odonnell SS - maybe slightly faster off the line, but a well tuned nitro engine and clutch can get up pretty quick too. And I've seen plenty faster nitro's.. but this 2050 seems fast enough, and I would not want anything slower or less than a 2050.

I got through 60 mins of packs yesterday and had no issues at all. The Tekin RX8/2050 combo is fantastic! Everything to setup was pretty easy, I only had to adjust the endbell on the motor to make sure the solder tabs were straight on top when bolted in.

I thought it was extremely smooth and I didn't feel I needed to muck with settings too much.. if there are other esc's that are smoother, Im not sure I could tell the difference.. but thats just me, maybe not having run electric for over 10 years.

Drivetrain loosened up, the car is very quiet!! Also, while breaking in the car, I met someone who races at my local track, albeit in 1/10 electric, but he said the car was amazingly quiet, he thought it was a 1/10 scale before he saw it closer.

He really liked the car, hadn't seen the Serpent before, but liked it much better than the AE or Losi that he had previously... especially the wiring layout...

it's interesting to me what different racers get "picky" about... I can understand how some guys dont like the wiring to esc, interfering with the plastic battery hold downs and being able to open/close them... but really it is a very minor issue when looking at the overall quality of the kit.

Next Im rebuilding all the diffs, gonna run 5-7-3 for my track and check shimming again. for break in I ran 3 all around.

Looking forward to racing next weekend in the opening of the Norcal Series.

_

I have most excellent news everyone... I received a response from Tekin, regarding their manufacturing here in America!!! Here is the response below:


Hello Chris!

Thank you for your support of Tekin products All our
products are designed and manfuactured right here in the
USA! The only exception is some of the parts that we need
for the motors. Those do come from China, but we do final
assembly, testing and packaging here. All our support
products such as manuals, housings, etc are also done
stateside. We believe in supporting our local economy and US
based vendors.

Nothing against HobbyWing, but they mass produces their own
line and others under different names, change the color and
call it something else. We don't operate that way, nor do we
OEM Tekin under any other name. If they want it, they have
to claim it as Tekin Besides, engineering is the fun
part! Anyone can buy something from China and slap a sticker
on it! Where's the fun in that?

We like to think that we offer a superior product with the
technology and user support behind us to separate ourselves
from the mass production game. It may be a little more
expensive to be the best, but we really feel that people
deserve the most technologically advanced products that we
can build. Competition is good, it is what keeps up
motivated.

Go USA!

Best regards,
Sherri Campbell
Owner
Tekin, Inc


-----

That just made my Monday!! So, the "made in China" portion on the box, refers to obviously the magnets that come from China, but assembly and everything is here, SUPER!

[Sponsored by USA]
_

Here's a very good shock setup for a hard pack clay track with med traction.

FR 30wt Losi #55 drilled 8 hole conical with 50% rebound Blue spring 4/A
RR 25wt Losi #55 drilled 8 hole conical with 50% rebound Yellow spriing 5/A

Hope you like it

Well, I'm now the proud owner of an 811e! Traded my 8.2e for it and couldn't be happier. This design and the quality of parts far surpasses AE by far. Can't wait to run this snake!!!

Good choice you will like it very much, ran mine for 3 meets not broke anything! Very good,

Is there any intent of making a new 1/10 rs in 3/4 months? I think the part of my sig with the "Soon to be a R10 pro combo" can change

Also I wanted to say about the drive train. I got my gearmesh perfect (its hard to do with this car) and I was asked several times if I had a plastic spur gear. I guess all you can reply is "no sorry this is just quality, lol. Not an associated or a losi you know..." No offense to anyone

Hey whats up guys....Ive been following this thread for a bit and I am just getting into offroad rc. Ive been contemplating and doing alot of research on which buggy im gonna buy and narrowed it to the serpnet or the rc8.2. I wasnt going to go with the serpent because I have purchased 2 new 4s batteries but seriously considering the serpnet now. I am worried about the rc8.2 because Ive heard they wear fast although everyone says they handle great. Heres my question....I have never built a kit and have heard this is a pretty "tight" car. How hard is this build process since I am a newb. Also I was going to go with the nanotech 6.6 batteries from turnigy and saw they are backordered, how long does hobbyking usually take to get these back in stock. Thanks for helping a newb out I appreciate any responses I get!!

BTW I ordered the Integy 29pc tool kit which I know is not the best quality but I figured I would dump my $$ on a quality buggy, will this be enough to build this kit?

Has anyone heard of any others coming out with any bodies for the 811 BE so we would have more than one choice for bodies? I emailed JConcepts but never heard anything back.

also emailed Serpent and waiting to see what they say.

Only difficult parts of the build with the Serpent, and they are not that bad, are the screws initially going into plastic and diff shimming.

For the tight plastic, get a good power screwdriver and tips. This i handy for any kit you build.

On the the diffs, do not fill the front and rear up with fluid until after you have shimmed them. Reason is to change the shims you have to take the diffs apart.

Having owned both, the overall build with the Serpent is better, quality is better, it wears better, and IMO handles better. Saddle packs are the future of 1/8 e-buggies, they are much better balanced.... But overall the Serpent is more expensive then the AE...